A Song for the Devil

The ghost of Azuchi

The ride back to Azuchi was awkwardly silent until we were hours away from the dragon's liar. Instead of stopping and resting, Nabunaga along with Hideyoshi and some scouts pushed through the night to get back to Azuchi as fast as possible.

"Rina, you can rest now." Nabunaga's eyes were focused on the road ahead.

"I haven't rested in over two months. I can wait a few hours more." My mind was still fixated on Kenshin's last words as I stared out at the dark sky ahead of us and wrapped his cloak tighter around my shoulders.

As if he could read my mind he spoke. "We will deal with that if the time comes." The resolve in his words made my heart hurt.

"You don't have to deal with it." I said with anger in my voice. His hold on me tightened slightly.

He finally looked down at me, anguish threatening the edges of his eyes. "Everything you deal with is also mine to deal with."

I looked away with a scowl. "We shall see." I whispered knowing full well he could hear me.

When we returned to Azuchi I was immediately taken to see the healer, Ieyasu. Despite generally being an unpleasant person to be around, he was surprisingly gentle and cautious as he checked on my various injuries.

He checked each scar and each wound that was still in the process of healing for signs of infection. Upon seeing the brand he gasped under his breath.

"Remove it." I said blankly.

He made a surprised sound and paused before speaking. "Are you sure? It will hurt worse than receiving the brand, and the wound will have to be tended to incase of infection."

"I won't repeat myself." I stood and covered my shoulder back up with my black kimono and made my way out of the room. "Make whatever preparations you need to." And walked out into the halls.

I tried to rest. But I couldn't. When I slept  I awoke screaming from terrible nightmares of dragons ripping me apart from the inside. No one could console me either, I couldn't  let them touch me and would yell at them to leave me alone.

After a week of this, despite our awkward last encounter, Hideyoshi came to visit one night.
"Rina, I'm coming in."  He entered without waiting for a response which was very unlike him.

"Leave. I don't want company." My voice shook with rage as I didn't turn to face him.

"I heard that you haven't been able to get very much sleep since you've returned." That overly caring tone that I used to dream about made me want to punch someone or something. I didn't respond. "I brought you some tea and thought maybe you would talk to me about it?"

With my back still to him I spoke in a cold, removed, tone. "Why would I want to talk to you? You're his right hand, you're the most cautious and protective one on his council. It stands to reason that you would have been the least supportive of tracking me down, even if I hadn't just crushed your heart."

There was a silence in the room that felt somewhat like a heavy fog as he tried to get to me mentally.

"So the servants weren't lying. You're spiteful and angry at this house." I could hear him sitting down at the small table in the middle of my room, shuffling the cups and tea pot. "I was concerned about chasing after you."

I whipped around with an icy glare hoping my gaze would cut him, to no avail. He just continued to calmly pour the tea. "So I'm right to hate you." I spat. Maybe if I hate him enough my words will turn venomous and kill him.

"Perhaps. I know part of me hated myself during those council sessions. Nobunaga and I wanted to turn all of our men to focus on finding you, but it's not my job to obey my whims. My job is to help achieve his dream." He was so confident, with his eyes closed as he took his first sip of tea. "I, along with Nobunaga, Mitsunari, and Masamune, convinced the rest of the lords to allow a small party and two highly skilled ninjas to track you down. We had no idea you were with... him" His eyes looked fierce and angry as he stared into his cup.